17/8/21 water levels still high, time to start looking to pump...

Dave Walker, Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Stu Lindsay, Chris George

30mins

Dave was quickly ready to head down so he headed down to check the water levels while everyone else got ready to go down. He was met coming up the ladder on his way out. He reported that despite mostly dry weather in the last week, the level had dropped about an inch, it was still extremely unpleasant level and the area Estelle had been digging 2 weeks earlier was under water, only high level digging was available. It was decided that there was no point in the unpleasantness of digging in those conditions and that we should go to the pub and discuss planning what we do next – while the water may slowly drop again over the coming weeks, it is unlikely to get to a point where it is where it was before the rains of the 8^th August and if we want to try and dig more through the winter, we need to get back to pumping

Plans in the pub involve looking at acquiring 1 or most likely 2 110v pumps as safer than 240v, we will need a transformer, but between us may have ones that could come and go each week if needs be. We need to look to secure the pipe at the end as currently it is crossing the path and effectively in the way and it needs to be set up to allow a bit of future proofing on length to pump a bit further ahead than we are now. We need to decide if we want to split the level and pump to a barrel which could be located by the outside end of the railway line and then a 2^nd pump would pump up to surface and towards the pond. We also need to look to check the electric cable that is currently in the cave and make sure it is safe and sound. Will look to ask Mark or Ben to come over at some point soon and take a look for us. We will ask around re 2^nd hand pumps, but also look to price up new from online, they need to be able to cope with the sludge and also the height.

10/8/21 water levels back up after a storm at the weekend

Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Jonathan Riley, Estelle Sandford turned up about half hour later

1hr

Sunday had seen rain of biblical proportions locally and the dig had suffered a rise of around a foot or slightly more of water thanks to that. Along with limited people turning up tonight, this made digging challenging as it was over the knee height now to walk to the end and digging was kneeling on a wet ledge. It was too wet to bother to try and bale water, so just one lot of 17 skips was brought up and emptied and the decision was made to abandon and go to the pub, where James and Stu turned up also.

3/8/21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Chris George, Stu Lindsay

2hrs

Dave went in first, water levels lower than last week, not affected by rains, he sent out 4 bottles of water and then some slurry before starting digging proper. The rest of the spoil was digging. Easy going… Estelle in next for her 17 buckets and then Chris in after and then off to the Waldegrave. Hopefully it will dry out further…

27/7/21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Dave and Max Walker, Jon Riley, Chris George, Stu Lindsay, Mike Moxon

2hrs

Good session, James went in first to dig, followed by Jon and Mike. Mike brought over some empty containers to fill with water which helped reduce the water levels a bit. Easy digging for the most part at the end, all bagged with us being an 8 and then off to the Waldy after.

20/7/21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Chris George, Dave Walker

2hrs

Chris, Estelle and Dave dug tonight, puddle down a bit further and making steady progress forwards with the roof coming down a bit. Usual 17 skips each then Waldy.

13-7-21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay, Jon Riley

2hrs

James went in first to dig the end, the water levels were slightly up on last week, but it had rained a lot in recent days. The hole in the floor we’d dug out had flooded, but there is still a good seat to sit on for digging. As the start was just Estelle, James and Dave, with the backlog, everyone came out and helped bag/empty the buckets, before Mike went in for a dig and then Jon took over for the last buckets, which totalled 43 tonight before heading to the Waldegrave.

6-7-21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay

2hrs

Dave went in first to dig and as the water levels had dropped a couple of inches, the mud at the sides was now exposed, so the first 10 buckets were like chocolate blancmange! (didn’t go down well with surface…) after that, started digging down in the floor just in front of the bank at the end. The water was dammed by clay and a rock to a point, but we didn’t expect it to last… Estelle continued digging in the floor after and it went down about a foot at it’s deepest along side a boulder and false floor above. Could sink most of the crow bar in through a small gap at the end too! Between us did 44 buckets and then headed up to help empty before heading to the Waldegrave.

29-6-21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Dave Walker

2hrs

James went in first to dig and the water levels were surprisingly slightly down on the previous week, despite a lot of rain. He continued digging the end going forwards with leaving a bit of a shelf to sit on. Mike went in 2^nd and did his round of buckets and a few extras to total about 40. Between each digger, we all went surface to help empty buckets and then after digging off to the Waldegrave.

22/6/21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jon Riley, Dave Walker Stu Lindsay

1hr 45mins

Good to have a team of 6 for a change, another 1 or 2 would make it even easier though! The water levels were about the same as last week, we had fairly constant rain over Sunday and Monday, so not unexpected, but it does feel like it isn’t going down as fast this year, probably down to the clay puddling in the pool and making a good seal! Jon went in first to dig and dug at speed to fill his 17 buckets from the higher level of the bank of spoil ahead. Estelle then dug 17 buckets worth continuing working down the spoil bank. The roof is coming down a bit at the moment, but we are not able to easily dig the floor out due to the water so don’t know how deep the mud/clay/rocks below us actually are. Dave then went in and did 17 buckets too. There was no requirement for all to go out and help empty buckets between each digger, which saved us a lot of time and meant we were able to fill 51 buckets (+ 1 rock) quicker than we’d done 34 last week! Hopefully we’ll have a drier week and the water levels will drop by next time a bit further. We have got several buckets and also some of our digging tools heading towards end of life, so will need to go shopping soon. Headed to Waldegrave afterwards

16/6/21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay

1.5hrs

Moved to Wednesday as MCR AGM on the Tuesday. Water levels down a bit further, so not quite at welly height for slopping over anymore. Mike went in first to dig and carried on removing the wall of mud in front, lots of higher mud/sediment, which is the easiest to empty out of the buckets. He did his 17 and then we went out to empty them, the next batch James did and these were bagged by Stu as he hauled and then topped up when we all came out. 37 skips in total tonight, then off to the Hunters as it was a Wednesday!

8/6/21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay

2hrs

Despite little to no rain since the previous week the water levels had barely gone down, which is annoying as they are at that height where they will just about lap over the top of your wellies! Estelle went in first to dig 17 buckets and then Dave the second round of 17. With only 5 of us, we have to stage the emptying so everyone has to come out in between. Still digging from an island at the end, so digging is actually quite easy at the moment. Still seem to be extending the chamber at the moment. Stu took the top sled away for repair/modification to improve it

1/6/21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Dave Walker

2hrs

40 buckets filled between James and Mike. Water level back down to approx. where it was 2 weeks ago, which means it just catches lapping over welly when you get it wrong. First 18 emptied, rest bagged, one bucket demised as a handle fell off. Still easy digging.

25/5/21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Dave Walker

1.5hrs

Wetter again than last week after a week of heavy rains and the puddle is at knee height. Dave and Estelle the only ones with wetsocks on so Estelle dug first filling the 18 buckets and then Dave did the 2nd round then we went to the pub slightly earlier. In between the 18 bucket hauls, we all came to surface to help empty. End still easy digging and grateful for the seat. Hopefully with good weather forecast indefinitely at the moment we’ll see it a lot drier next week.

18/5/21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Dave Walker

1hr 45mins

Water levels back up around 3-4 inches since last week after recent rains, so just lapping over welly level when you are moving around or leaning over to move skips. James went in first to dig, followed by Mike and then Dave. Digging forward is still pretty easy and until the water levels drop, keeping a seat level just above water, but once dried, will need to go down to rock in the pool. A section of roof mud came down in what is looking to be another mini aven above as well during the dig. Good to be back in the Waldegrave for the first time since they opened after lockdown release.

11/5/21

 Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker

2hrs

60 skips between us - Estelle went in first and did 18 as at that point we were only a 4, then people arrived and Mike went in second and did 18 and then Jon 3rd and 18, followed by Dave doing 6. Going forwards nicely, easy digging although it seems to stick to the skips. The water level was a bit lower than last week, but not a lot, but then it had rained a lot. Hopefully the last week of bring our beer and drink at the cave...

4/5/21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Dave Walker, Jonathan Riley

2hrs

4 diggers today – end puddle had dropped by about another 6inches, the end was dry to dig. Easy digging. Estelle first, then Jon, then James and then Dave did a short shift of 10 compared to everyone else doing 15-27 buckets.

27/4/21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay

1.5hrs

Estelle checked the end on arrive and success, we’re digging tonight. Mike headed in and dug first with Estelle digging a bit in the passage above where there is still flood debris. Once the first round of 18 buckets had been filled, we all headed up to the top to help empty them as it’s hard going with only 5 of us. Once done, Dave went in and dug and the rest of us hauled and carried. Again headed out to empty the bulk of them. Decided we were all feeling a bit achy after 2 rounds of buckets so decided not to push for the 3^rd one this week! Beers at the top again – starting to get a little midgey, need the pub open soon before we get eaten alive!

20-4-21

 Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay

1.5hrs

Water levels had dropped by about another foot since last week, and it looks like we’ll clearly be back digging next week. We spent the evening cleaning off some of the passageway of the mud caused by the winter flooding to make it a little cleaner and also help smooth the passage for the skip run. Another night of a beer at the surface as no pub yet!

13/4/21

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker

2hrs

Cement and dust brought over tonight by Dave, so wall building session planned. James went to the end and reported back that the levels had dropped a little but probably not that much and there’s still no way of digging the end without it dropping further or sorting pumps. Dave then went in and took a look too. We then set to Dave cement making, James wall building, Estelle digging out the collapse at the end of the railway and Mike hauling and between him and Dave, more bag filling for the retaining spoil walls. 3 mixes later and the wall is probably about where it needs to be and Estelle had dug out the bank – lots of the white clay had been exposed and there is a rock that may need removing at some point – am sure it’s slid down that bank more than it was before! As it was warmer, we sat at the top of the ladder for a beer before heading home – roll on the Waldegrave opening properly!

6-4-21 first visit after lockdown restrictions easing

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Dave Walker

2hrs

First look at the dig since before COVID-19 lockdown. Headed into the dig to look at the end and it is currently flooded to approximately where you would sit for the lower haul. There is probably 3ft-ish depth of water at its deepest. It is possible to traverse along the edge a bit and see under the arch into the chamber at the end, but far too wet to dig at present. Since our last visit, there has been a subsidence from under the hedge line and most of the spoil buckets were buried under this. We soon retrieved these, but made the decision to spend the rest of the evening building up the retaining spoil bag wall in case of further subsidence, plus as it was quite chilly and windy that evening, it kept us warm for a while until we decided to crack open a beer each whilst down there! We discussed possible pumping ideas and also mused over whether the dig water level was at water table level or just backed up thanks to the thick clay we usually dig out. We also discussed the ideas of pumping and are looking towards a 2 pump system as most likely and Stu has brought over a big blue barrel that we could use for the middle level. We’d need 2 pumps with less lift that way and thus cheaper to acquire, plus looking at options to make sure the bottom pump is a 110v for safety, where it won’t matter for the top pump down to its location. We’ll look at the options over the next few weeks on all this, but meanwhile we can bring cement to continue building the wall up the side of the steps and also there is a small collapse the other side of the railway needing clearing.

3/11/20

 

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker plus Kevin Clinton at the start

2hrs

More cementing by the steps, water levels down a little bit. Kevin and Estelle headed into the top part above the main dig and Kevin showed Estelle a possible place where he thought likely to be worth digging. It’s worth a go whilst we’re unable to dig the end down to flooding. Made sure we tidied up a bit and didn’t leave cement as we know we’re not digging for a month down to lockdown #2 and had last trip to the Waldegrave for a while too.

27/10/20

 

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker

2hrs

Cementing the wall by the steps as reinforcement to stop slumping. Also filled a load of bags with mud from the top to add to the wall levels at the top for retaining spoil before heading off to the Waldegrave.

20/10/20

More wall building! Checked out the water and it had dropped around another 6” facilitating access to the metal grills without getting excessively wet but a long way of being able to dig again any time soon! Mike went in and retrieved the grills via the side shelf and brought out to the surface to remove them to go to Pearl Mine as we no longer need them. Cement mixing underway, James and Estelle moved some rocks back into the cave and laid them out a bit for the first layer. Took cement in and did that layer and repeated for 2 more skips of cement before we ran out of supplies. Probably 1-2 more sessions will see the steps wall sorted so it doesn’t risk a collapse in from the wall from the mud behind. 2hrs

13/10/20

Estelle & James brought sand and cement and there was already some dust over there to make up a mix with, so we set to clearing where there had been a slump on the right of the steps. Tools recovered and removed to higher ground and James cleared all the mud away to reveal back to the previous cemented wall level. Dave made mix up while the spoil was removed and the rocks we'd taken out a couple of weeks back were brought back in for wall building! The big boulder at the top of the steps was undermined and then a wall built under it and cemented in place and continuation just below it until we ran out of mix for now. Will continue this over the next couple of weeks unless it happens to dry out enough to dig. The levels had dropped maybe 18" at most since Sunday, but still very much under water.

11/10/20

Estelle popped on an oversuit over clothes to go and check the state of the cave. The water levels had clearly been quite well up the step and currently sitting at about a metre below where the hole in the floor was. There has been a reasonably significant collapse from the right side as you go down the steps, burying the tools on the shelf there and water appears to have come in from above from the top dig area. It would be useful and sensible to do some walling at the step area to try and prevent further collapses from that side and also secure the boulder at the top better. Unlikely to see the end again for digging for a while. Noted that there had been a rock fall just below the ladder and we may be prudent to prod a crack as more looks a bit unstable there.

29/9/20

Andrew came over to survey the cave we’ve found since the 2016 survey around our digging session. We completed this promptly around the others digging and we have gained approx. 25m since then – it is 30m total to the rock at the start of the railway. Dave started at the dig, the water levels were the same as last week, about 6inches of water in the floor and easy enough to dig the face ahead and the spoil is easy digging varying clays, mud, etc. – it’s so much easier to haul the skipnow the hole in the floor has been filled and the top lined with spoil bags. Mike and Jon had their goes at digging and then we all headed to the pub. Have a feeling the forecasted weather may flood the dig, but we’ll see if it is as bad as forecast!

22/9/20

Having lost Mike and Jon to the recent Wookey breakthrough and continuing work in there on that, plus Stu came over and capped some rocks yesterday as he couldn’t make tonight, we were reduced to 3. The water levels at the end are 6-8 inches in most places, but lots of clay in the floor which would prevent drainage. Plenty of remains of boulders from Stu’s efforts last night so Estelle set to filling buckets with rocks as it is easier to handle and they were all taken only as far as the hole in the floor, which we’ve been discussing filling for a while – we also used up most of the small rocks we’d been using in the space by where the grill was. Once we’d run out of rocks, James took over and was digging the area where the grill was down to rock level. This was bagged and Dave placed them so the skip should flow over the top. The boards were taken out, the grills are both stashed at the side of the passage for now in case they are needed again. More work to continue getting down to floor level and could do with breaking up the boulders we stashed as they are no longer neatly walled and would be better removed from the cave! Headed out to Waldegrave.

15/9/20

About 10inches or so of water in the end area and James went in first to dig and after the efforts last week removing the grill, the continuation was filling buckets from around that area and into the first of the deeper pool as we have pretty much decided we need to find the floor still. There’s a lot of clays lower down and the end does drain, albeit slowly so clearing the floor down to rock may help… James filled his skips and then Estelle took over and filled from the area where the grill was and just beyond, before Mike took over and carried on clearing out the same area. We’re down to floor in a number of places now and it’s clearly got a bit of a gap between where the wall hits the floor, which may help with drainage if we can keep this… Hopefully another dry week ahead might see the water levels lower.

8/9/20

From Mike. Stuart capped most of the boulders in the end chamber, despite forgetting any spare drill batteries, whilst Dave, Fran & I lifted the 2nd grill & removed most of the mud from underneath it (18 buckets worth) in stages. Stu then put most of the bits of rock up on the right hand shelf before running out of oxygen & exiting. Then Dave & I headed back down for 5 minutes whilst the others got changed - Dave dug out the remaining wall between the 2 puddles & I lifted the rest of the rock onto the shelf, except 1 large block (that is lose) & any that I couldn't see (pool was crystal clear when we arrived, & a couple of inches lower than last week). Still some mud (grill is up on the side) & the rocks to remove next time.

1/9/20

James’s birthday treat, he got to go and dig first! Quite a wet muddy puddle at the end still, but able to dig the end wall ok and just get wet up to the knees while kneeling in the water! He filled 18 skips and then Estelle took over for around 18 skips – she dug around the pool/stones more and lowered the water level a bit. Mike Moxon went in and did around a dozen skips as pub was calling – the spoil was being bagged on the surface this time as enough to make it worthwhile. Hopefully the water levels will drop off further by next time. 2hrs

25/8/20

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay, Mike Moxon, Fran Campbell

2hrs, plus an extra 1.5hrs for Stu and Dave

Stu arrived early again to cap more boulders in the chamber, but this was a bit fruitless as with Storm Ellen and Francis having gone through in the last week, all that could be seen was the tops of a few of the larger boulders, the rest of the chamber was under about 2.5ft of water. He capped a few of the larger ones that were just above that area and then headed out soon after. Dave had arrived a bit earlier too and had helped with clearing and Jon went in next to break any boulders he could. Jon then moved onto digging the ceiling, Dave swapped out further up the chain with Fran who also did some digging in the roof and floor where the grill and puddle is. Lots of roof coming down from a very drippy aven. We came out around 8:30 to get to the Waldegrave in time for another ‘eat out to help out’ half price meal.

If we don’t see more dry weather to dry the chamber out, we’re going to have to look at pumping options – looking at 2 pumps, sludge pump for the end to bring up to the end of the railway to perhaps a water butt we can install there, and then another pump to bring to the surface, but this doesn’t need to deal with sludge then.

18/8/20

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay, Mike Moxon

2hrs plus Stu an hour earlier

Stu arrived early to cap boulders again. Very successful capping session, so much so that the 3 diggers after didn’t manage to clear all the boulders he’d broken up! Dave was there a little earlier too, so he filled the first round of buckets with mostly rock, then Estelle went in and cleared a load of rock and mud from around the removed rocks, followed by Mike doing the last session before heading out to ensure we got to the Waldegrave in time for a ‘eat out to help out’ half price meal. Stu planning on doing an early capping session again next week as some of the boulders that were broken up, are not smashing with the hammer and too big to carry and for the skips. The chamber remains mostly dry despite there having been a bit of rain in the last week.

11/8/20

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay, Mike Moxon

2hrs digging with an extra hour for Stu

Stu arrived early to cap some boulders in the chamber at the end so we can clear the floor. He’d just about run out of drill power/caps by the time we all arrived at 6:30. Jon went in first and smacked up some rocks making them small enough to fit in the skips, most of his session was rocks, then James went in and cleared more rocks and headed into removing some mud too. Finally Mike went in for the last session and mostly clearing spoil from the end wall and noted there seems to possibly be an inlet or aven above too. All easy digging and still nice and dry at the end. Headed out 8:30ish to pub.

4/8/20

 

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay, Mike Moxon

2hrs

Despite it being bone dry on last visit around a month ago, there was now a pool at the end on the grill and a little bit of water in the floor around the boulders near the end. Stu went in to dig first and filled all 18 buckets, before Estelle took over and filled about a dozen as nursing a bad back – the digging was mostly in the wall going forwards, and is fairly easy going. Dave then took over and filled around another dozen or so and as we had arranged to visit the Waldegrave from about 20:15 as first week of being open since the COVID19 restrictions were lifted, we made a point of packing up to give us time to get there!

Friday 3rd July

Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay

(from Mike)

Well, we had a look at the end, then spent about an hour clearing the slump by the start of the 2nd grill (10 buckets) & other bits of the passage / steps (another 6), staging them back to the steps, then our to empty. Dave & Stu swore they'd bring kneepads next time. A song thrush serenaded us whilst changing (& it decided to start raining again). A calf on the road just the other side of Litton & a roe deer nearer East Harptree interrupted the drive home, but still managed in daylight for the first time ever (for an evening session).

27-6-20 Recce trip to check state of play

Estelle Sandford & James Begley

30mins

Dig was flooded up to COVID19 lockdown, but having agreed with Kevin it was ok to start back digging as the COVID19 lockdown starts to release, James and Estelle headed over to do a quick recce post the winter flooding and get an idea of where we are at on any water levels. There is no water at the end at all, although plenty of the usual sticky mud/clay. There’s a few places in the passage that have seen minor slumps from the flooding, but overall, probably one session of tidying up and we’re back digging the end. Kevin mentioned there appears to be a resident rat, but it hasn’t been in the dig area as the first footprints of any size are ours! Took some photos and a short video and headed home.

22/12/19

Estelle & James popped in to drop xmas bottle to Kevin and check the water levels. Up to about 4" below the railway line and looking like we'll be flooded out for some time. Kevin has suggested we re-investigate the top dig as he feels it may go the other way. We'll plan a trip in the new year for this. 

22/10/19

Estelle Sandford, Dave King, Dave Walker

1hr

Went over armed with tools to take apart the remaining cable connections and to check the state of play. Disconnected the IP44 link easily with 2 people to pull on it so removed the grey socket cable for cleaning and drying. We then went in and looked at the water levels and took some photos. It's dropped about another 8-10" since yesterday so progress... Hopefully with less rain forecast it will dry out some more over the next week. We measured cable lengths a bit so we can plan how to put on a far more waterproof set up and resin seal anything likely to ever end up getting wet. Headed to pub to discuss ideas further!

checking the water levels 21/10/19

Estelle Sandford
1hr
I popped over  with oversuit over clothes to check the status… The good news is that the water level has dropped considerably in that it is at the bottom of the first grill. The hole in the floor is still full though so not quite sure where it’s draining! Not wanting to get overly wet with no change of clothes, I carefully traversed the ledges enough to grab the pump and bring it back to the grill, only to find the cable seemed jammed and it didn’t want to come out… After some gentle flicking and tugging on the cable, it came away, bringing with it a pile of hauling rope that was obviously sat on top of it! The pump was soon bagged for removal to take home and clean and check over. Left the remaining cable in situ for now, although all is near the entrance.

15/10/19

from Mike - Mike Moxon & Jonathan Riley

Well, it's just as well we didn't have a full turn out. I've included Kevin to find out what level the borehole is at, as last time we had this much water, so did he...

Jon went down ahead of me & just as I was about to join him he reappeared at the cars - turns out the first hole on left was flooded to within view & the end was just below the top of the steps. We both went down & pulled the cable up so the first join was well above the water level. Both pools were c.5 to 6ft below the level of the railway, although we're not 100% that they are at the same height. Jon suggested that Nick could do a practice dive & recover the pump & tools from the end. Early finish in the Hunters' then.

8/10/19 2 trips in one day!

AM

Estelle Sandford, Nick Gymer

1hr

Andrew Atkinson was going to survey the stuff that isn’t on the current survey, but had distoX problems, so cancelled today. I had arranged to show Nick and it was beneficial to pump too probably, so went down anyway. Showed Nick around the top stuff, before heading down to the end to check. End was very wet and the water over the grill was flowing into the end and it was at that height. Set the pump up and going whilst Nick went and looked at the upper series and then we hung around until it had pumped enough to save time tonight. Also took a chunk out of the dam as it seems pointless having it with it filling up and overflowing and means only having to pump one place if we can move the dam enough. It appears to be a rock step though. Once drained headed out and home

PM

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Dave Walker, Chris Duberry, Nick Hawkes

2hrs

Pump was reactivated on arrival to clear the puddle area above the dig as much as anything. Chris went in to dig first, followed by Nick and then Stu had a dig – first time since his operation he had been to the end and he was surprised by how much progress we’d made. We are down to 18 buckets now, but Stu did an extra 10, helped by Estelle removing some of the remainder of the dammed bit so now the top puddle mostly drains into the dig meaning one pump location.

No digging planned for next week as a too many people are unavailable and it’s unviable with the numbers left, but could do with a couple of people planning to head over at some point to pump it so we keep on top of it as it is needing about ½ hour per week with all the rain we are having. Also on digging nights, be good if 1-2 can be there ½ hour early to get it going and maximise digging time. Jon had provided new skip for the bottom run and we have a spare for that too, the top one needs someone to take a knife down to trim the back off as it’s very hard to load at the moment.

2/10/19

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay

2hrs

Stu went inside the cave for the first time since his operation and did the 2^nd haul and was definitely a lot more sprightly getting into the cave! We needed to pump quite a bit this week as there had been a lot of rainfall in the last week, so the pump was going for most of the session, Mike went in first to dig once it was low enough to work around the edges and then Dave filled the second lot, only about 35 skips came out as too much time wasted pumping.

24/9/19

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker

2hrs15mins

headed down and checked water levels after it had been torrential rain for much of the last 48hrs, so was expecting it to be quite wet, but although the water was up a bit, it didn't need pumping to work, but we chose to pump out about a foot worth of water to make sure we were keeping on top of it in case of more rain before next time. While pumping, Estelle got to digging, mostly on the left and low, trying to clear down as low as possible on that side to see if it was the bottom around the boulders. After 20 skips, swapped and James dug, he also dug the same place, which being lots of nougat type clay, was hard work and took quite a long time on his session. Jon then only did 10 as was getting close to pub time, but he dug on the right of the chamber, which was easy digging! The chamber is getting quite large now, probably a good 3-4m long and about 2.5m wide and can stand up in bits of it (where there are no boulders on the floor!) the bottom skip is desperate for replacement. Stu still getting back into it slowly post op and Mike nursing a hamstring injury so not able to do as much.

10/9/19

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay, Will Sampson

2hrs

Stu’s first time back after his hip replacement, so on strict orders not to overdo it. Jon had car problems, so Estelle met Will and  ensured he found the dig this time. First job was to raise the ladder, so while this was prepared, Estelle checked the end to see if pumping was needed as it had rained a lot yesterday. Not required, so went back up and the ladder was raised another couple of rungs up. Once safely secured, Dave headed in to dig and Will behind him, Stu was able to haul and lift buckets out of skip, but nothing further – he’d also brought a new modified skip for the railway, which may need a bit more modification as it wasn’t running as smooth as it should. Once Dave had done his 20, we all headed out to empty the skips into bags and then Will went in to dig – down to timescales, he only filled 10 skips and then we headed off to the pub. Bottom skip needs replacing, so need to get another drum and cut back sooner rather than later. Next time we move the ladder, will need an adjustable spanner to remove the top section.

3/9/19

Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker, Chris Duberry

2hrs

Chris went in first to dig, we’ve found an extra bucket so now it’s 20 each! Very easy digging tonight, mud seemed to be slicing off nicely, he soon nailed his 20 and then Estelle dug 20, all going straight on still, plus bringing down some from above – some didn’t need help… Mike went in and did 20 next and because we were digging so fast, there was time for Jon to do 20 as well! We finished off emptying buckets before heading to the pub. We need to bring a spanner over, we also need a new skip for the bottom runway – Jon working on getting.

27/8/19

Estelle Sandford, Jonathan Riley, Nick Hawkes, Dave Walker, Mike Moxon

2hrs

Jon, Nick and Dave dug this week, 19 buckets each and we sent in 5 extras to make a random 62! Still going forward and currently ignoring and going over the boulders in the floor. Estelle was late getting into the dig because of waiting for Will who didn’t make it in the end and Mike was late as he was getting back from Pembrokeshire.

20/8/19

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker, Chris Duberry, Joan Goddard

2hrs

Mike dug first and filled 19 and then Joan filled 19 buckets too with a bit of help from Mike. Jon came down and filled the last 19 before we headed to the pub. Bottom skip starting to look really quite tired.

13/8/19

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker, Chris Duberry

2hrs

James went in first, Chris turned up for the first time and brought 2 new tubs with him, so we’re now having to learn the 19x table. After James had filled 19, Chris took his turn and filled 19, then Estelle, then bonus 15 buckets and Dave got to dig too as we were motoring and it wasn’t yet pub ‘o’ clock! The ceiling seems to be coming down a bit on both left, right and in front. The passage on the right resembles the same red ledge as further up passage. There are some quite large boulders in the floor that could do with excavation and removal as it is possible we should be going down. Still a lot more clay to remove though to see what is going on more, but the chamber is getting quite a reasonable size now. Water levels hadn’t been affected by the recent heavy rains.

7/8/19

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Dave Walker, Jonathan Riley

1 ¾hours

Despite a late start and only 4, we were pretty efficient in getting 51 skips out with Jon, Dave and Estelle digging tonight. Still going forward, although looks like the roof is coming down a bit, but the floor full of boulders still needs digging.

30/7/19

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Jonathan Riley, Dave King

2hrs

James went in first to dig and discovered the dig had been self digging again and some rocks and a lot of mud had come down - last time he dug first he had to deal with a self dig too! He filled 17 buckets quite quickly and Mike decanted some into an 18th as he was overfilling, plus a few rocks came up... Mike then took over digging and also quite quickly filled his 17 buckets. As we always like to give guest diggers an opportunity to dig, we sent Dave King to the end to see our progress and be the 3rd digger of the night - he filled his 17 and as we were running early, we sent down bonus extras, so he got an extra 8 to fill! total 60 buckets and several loads of rocks. The heavy rain hadn't really affected the end water levels.

23/7/19

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay, Neil Reaich, Chris Smart

2hrs

Jon and Dave had arrived first, so they headed down to the end to start digging, with Jon at the head digging the face mostly right and forward. There is a roof pendant, which may be a boulder, that is slowly being exposed on the left roof above us to keep an eye on. The ‘chamber’ is continuing to grow, but there is a reasonable puddle now in the floor making non-holey wellies essential! Chris and Neil headed down and Dave shuffled back a place and the rest of us manned the rest of the route. Stu followed down about 15minutes later and took over the top haul from Estelle so she was then focussing on emptying buckets. Chris swapped in as second digger and carried on digging more to the left and forward and did his 17 before the final swap around and Estelle filled the last 17 buckets. Mostly from the right/shelf bit. Quite a lot of false floor stal there and lots of yellow and red clay. Possibly worth our while trying to focus on going down a bit and seeing what the boulders in the floor are hiding, but there’s still quite a few weeks of easy digging around this and the boulders may well need chemical persuasion.

16/7/19

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay

2hrs

Dave went in first and filled 17 buckets. Stu slowly descended to the end and then filled the next two rounds of buckets, so did 34 as he won’t be around soon for a few months post op. His view was that it may be worth working on down more through the boulders. Still loads of spoil to be removed from the area though. Puddle very little difference in height from last week.

9/7/19

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, Stu Lindsay, Neil Reaich

2hrs

James went in first to dig, the roof had all come in from above, this wasn’t unexpected really as Estelle and Mike had intentionally been undermining this last time… All his 17 skips and also the first few of Neil’s were from the roof. Neil got to digging out the floor a bit on his 17, before Estelle did some digging at the left wall in front – there is a large boulder in there too which will need bringing down soon. At 51 skips, we emptied them all and headed to pub.

24/6/19

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Dave Walker

2.5hrs

Tight on numbers tonight as Jon ill and no-one else about. Despite little rain since last week, there was quite a lot of water in the puddle and dig so we set to clearing that first with the pump. Once cleared, Mike got on with digging, followed by James and then Estelle. All digging in the dig itself tonight, although mostly above into an aven as it all looks like it wants to slump on us! Suspect it will self-dig before next time again. 52 buckets removed plus a few rocks including some of the ones stashed from last week.

18-6-19

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker, Chris Seal

2hrs

Considerable amount of rain had fallen since last visit, so we needed to use the pump. Extended the pipe and electric cables so we could also pump the dig too as there was a couple of feet of water in there as well. Got the puddle as dry as we could and then proceed to spend the evening digging that out as it’s been on the to-do list and we’ve been putting it off… Dave and Chris went in first to dig, followed by Estelle and then Jon. The slurry in the puddle is almost gone now and grill removed for the moment. Hopefully next week we can get back into the dig and try and clear some in there. About 60 buckets removed plus some rock moved to top.

12/6/19

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay

2hrs

After quite a bit of heavy rain, there was an expectation we may have to pump – Estelle popped down to the end while the others were getting ready and found that the dig itself was under about 18” of water, which appears to be coming in from the aven above it, but the ‘puddle’ had only risen very slightly. The dig looked like it was going to be easy to bale, so went out to send first diggers down! Jon and Stu on surface and bagging happened too. James dug first and between him and Mike they took out 7 buckets of water from the dig to the hole in the floor up passage. James then dug from the end and it was hard going as a lot of that white nougat type stuff, but he managed to remove a large boulder which was passed up passage a bit for breaking up, which was done during the session by Dave and Estelle. Mike dug next and he decided not to dig in the dig, but to help get rid of the sediment and floor in the puddle which really needs us to do whilst it’s drier, particularly now we know the dig will fill up with water rather than the puddle… (although this raises another issue, while we’ve plenty of electric cable to get to the dig with the pump, we will need to get an extension on the blue water pipe as bringing it in a further approx. 7-8m will bring the end too close to the top of the shaft.) 

Mike removed 17 buckets and then swapped with Dave who continued filling from the puddle area – he got extras as digging was quick and it wasn’t quite pub time! 56 buckets total of spoil plus a few skips of rocks.

4/6/19

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker

2hrs

Estelle dug first, there had been a slump over the last week from the roof to the right, so the first few buckets came from that before she started digging. Also the puddle side is drying out so on each person’s shift, the bucket carrier person ended up filling or topping up a sneaky few. Mike dug next followed by Dave. All filled 17 buckets – we worked hard spread out so we could get everything to the surface and as the 8:45 alarm hadn’t gone off, once 51 filled, we sent another 9 buckets down to fill with slop from the puddle! Disgusting stuff, like thick chocolate sauce – hard to fill the buckets and hard to empty and clean them… We probably need to aim to do circa 10 buckets of this per week to get rid of this sediment before the winter! Next week’s digging moved to Wednesday down to MCR meeting.

28/5/19

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Dave Walker, Alex Gee, Jonathan Riley, Stu Lindsay

2hrs

Mostly able to do the entire spoil run to surface today with 6 of us, although hard work. Used the opportunity to get rid of a lot of rocks that had been stacked in the system and about 20 skips full of them were removed. Stu started building a wall behind where the exit haul is that should help protect the hauler eventually and give a bit more spoil dumping space! Dave dug first, followed by Alex and then James. All filled 17 skips each and were emptied with no bagging. End is continuing to look different with boulders held together with spoil and the white nougat type stuff, which is really hard to remove but we appear to be digging ourselves a chamber now! The puddle is drying out a bit and the blancmange consistency looks like it might be possible to clean some of it out soon…

21/5/19

Estelle Sandford, James Begley (late down to train delay from London), Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker

2hrs

Hard work with 4 to start, increasing to 5 about half hour after we started. Having to stage it, so only gives the opportunity for 3 people to fill the 17 buckets each. Estelle went in first as hadn’t seen it for a few weeks, was very impressed as to how much progress had been made. It’s widening out and they’ve gone down in the floor more. Lots of big boulders in floor, but passage is quite sizable and almost made a chamber at the end now – definitely feels like it is changing character. Jon went in next followed by Mike and then we went to the pub.

30/4/19 and 7/5/19 and 14/5/19 - from Mike M

14/5/19 Mike Moxon, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay. 3 diggers, 51 buckets removed.

7/5/19 Mike Moxon, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker
Decided it was still too damp to clear the silt, so another 51 tubs, plus some big rocks came out of the end, which has changed direction (angling off to the left & may have left Kevin's property, although it's too early to see if it's just stepping across). A small amount of seepage was collecting at the end & it did rain Wednesday.

30/4/19

Previous week 5O tubs worth came out, as one empty bucket escaped down the other dig before the last haul. The puddle was also emptied of most of it's water into the halfway slot (which hadn't completely drained by this week). 

23/4/19

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker 2hrs pumped tonight, not risen much since last week and not enough to invade the dig which Dave had lowered a bit last week into boulders in the floor. While pumping was progressing, Estelle started digging - carried on a bit down, but there are quite a few large boulders in the floor at the moment. We do need to clear more out from the floor, but it's still progressing well by digging the wall of mud/clay/rock in front of us, so will see how the water levels go on the puddle. After Estelle did her 17 buckets, Dave went in next and then Jon for 17 each, then the pub called! Have left the pump in situ, but removed the pipe from it so the sediment doesn't settle in the pipe. Found a dead baby bunny under the buckets at the start. Also noted that there seems to be some erosion of the mud/rock hedge side, we need to keep an eye on this as it may decide to come down...

16/4/19

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay (although Stu didn't dig, just brought cable over) 2hrs Stu brought back the pump from clean and looking at cabling and we also inserted the armoured cable in from the mains socket at the top to as far as it would go - part way down 'steps' - via the top dig route. He is going to sort the middle cable ready for industrial connector, so couldn't pump this week. James set to digging, followed by Jon and then Dave. Usual 17 skips each and then we retired to the pub. Dave was digging down in a floor a bit - risky if the water rises much...!

9/4/19

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker, Pat Hillier, Olivia Gentile

2.5hrs

Estelle went in first to photograph and dig – the boulders had been satisfactorily reduced to manageable sizes and a lot of gravel! Dave, Pat, Mike and Liv all went in and had a session and James helped Liv at the end of her session. A massive 87 skips removed this week, think it’s a record! End looking easy digging still at the end and probably best part of a metre progress made.

8/4/19

Estelle Sandford, Stu Lindsay

2.5hrs

After ending last week with a couple of large boulders impeding digging a bit, Stu and Estelle went over to give them a bit of chemical persuasion – satisfactory thud as we left! Drilled and dealt with the two boulders and also a roof pendant. Also while we were there, we pumped the puddle dry as last week it was getting a bit bigger again. Seems to be seepage rather than anything to do with weather conditions though.

Stu took the pump away to clean and also change the connector for industrial type one to go with the heavy duty cable we have to be fitted.

2/4/19

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Jonathan Riley, Pat Hillier, Harry Page

2.5hrs

Dave started off digging, there are 2 prominent boulders in the middle so having to dig around them. The water levels had risen a bit in the puddle making it quite mucky near the dig face. 10 buckets each going on tonight, so once Dave had done his, Estelle took over. The roof on the left appears to be getting lower by the 2 boulders the deeper we go, suspect we need to seriously look at digging down. After Estelle, Mike, then Harry then Pat all had a turn. Estelle took photos at the end and the right side roof is also lowering. The top boulder does move a little when smacked with a hammer and a bit did fall off, but both look like they need chemical persuasion. We also need to look at building some sort of bund so we can retain the puddle and start looking to dig down without it coming to join us. All looks interesting at the end as the passage is widening, but lots of big boulders.

26/3/19 from Mike Moxon

Naomi turned up again, with her own trowel! So Jon dug first filling 16 tubs whilst Dave tried to break up the boulder, then we doubled shifted them back to Stuart hauling at the entrance. Mike & Naomi filled the next 16 - repeat procedure & Dave finished the night off to total 48. Some big blocks to reduce & remove when we've freed them up. Then all except Naomi retired to the pub.

18/3/19

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon (back for first time after eye operation), Stu Lindsay, Dave Walker, Naomi Brazier

2.5hrs

set up the pump as the water was fairly high (probably a good 18”-2ft above the floor at deepest part) and left it going while we did other stuff. Raised the ladder up about 3 rungs and then went back to looking at the water, it had dropped by about 6" by then which was starting to expose a couple of large boulders by the dig. Another 15mins and we were just about able to dig but just before it got to that point, Estelle removed the boulders and passed them back to Dave to break up/get rid of. Got about an hours worth of digging, Estelle first, then Dave then Naomi. Filling bags and also rescued mating toads from the dig and put in the pond! It's toad rescue time of year again... 

5/3/19

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Stu Lindsay, Dave Walker, Jonathan Riley

2hrs

Dropped the number of buckets each to 15! 17 last week was too hard… Stu again opted to haul and part fill sacks, while the rest of us took it in turns to dig. The end is now about 1.5m beyond the current end of the puddle area and having removed a couple of large rocks, is mostly back to mud/clay but with more large rocks starting to emerge again. The passage seems to be sort of heading slightly left with the right side closing in a bit. Hoping that the forecast rains don’t fill it up too much, suspect next session will be pumping. Also next session the ladder needs raising. 2 frogs and 1 toad rescued from spoil heap and deposited in the pond.

26/2/19

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Stu Lindsay, Dave Walker, Jonathan Riley

2hrs

Stu didn’t feel up to digging, he just wanted to haul on surface and was also helping by putting the first couple of buckets in the bags so we could then finish topping them up. The rest of us took it in turns to fill the 17 skips we appear to have in circulation at the moment. Mike is out of commission after an eye operation so being stuck with only 5 of us is a bit of a killer to get to surface and all positions are hard work, but I guess a damned good workout! The puddle was about the same level as last week, digging is still heading forwards and we’re having to keep the floor level above puddle height, but it’s still about 3ft or so high. Boulder in the middle that looks like it will come out next week. Filling bags as we need to raise the ladder again soon and also build up the wall around our hauling spot. 1^st frog of the season rescued and returned to pond.

19/2/19

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker

2hrs

16 skips each, having to stage it as low on numbers, but all worked hard and dig continues looking good and going forwards. The puddle didn’t need any pumping tonight, but is still there. We do need to try and dig down a bit but this obviously has the risk of bringing the puddle nearer the dig face, right hand wall is cutting across a bit and there are two quite large boulders to the left which will need to make friends with Dr Nobel at some point.

13/2/19

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Jonathan Riley

2hrs

Dig needed pumping tonight, so first 30mins or so was getting it to a point where it was possible to dig. Once drained enough, Dave got in there and started digging until he’d run out of buckets and around then the pump reached the maximum it could pump out. Jon and Mike followed and did the 16 skips each too, then it was pub time!

6/2/19 from Mike Moxon

Jon, Dave & I built a wall of sorts on the top step before retiring to the Hunters. The end pool had risen enough to cover far end of grill, but only just.

22/1/19

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay

2hrs

Good session, although hard work with only 6 regulars now. Really could do with recruiting a couple more in order to make the work easier. We still did about 80 buckets of spoil though and bagged some of it on the surface to continue the wall building. Steady progress forwards, the passage has widened considerably and due to the ‘puddle’ we’re not going down as much at the moment, so not sure what depth we have, there is a large boulder to the left looking straight on which once all the spoil moved around is likely to need some Dr Nobel’s.  Little rain since the last session, so the pump wasn’t needed tonight.

15/1/19 from Mike Moxon

15th Jan - Jon, Dave & Stu did some cementing on the steps. I removed a couple of tubs worth of loose spoil from the end, cleared a tub of silt from the hole & widened the connection to upper passage.

8/1/19

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Jonathan Riley, Stu Lindsay

2hrs

No pumping required, Mike had brought a metal grill to go over the hole and once we'd leveled the bottom end this proved to be very good for hauling and we only needed 2 people below the grill, one digging and one transporting/hauling, to get the skips hauled up. Therefore we were able to work to get everything out in one go. Mike dug first and then Jon, before Dave took over. Dave had proper dig fever and dug for the remainder of the evening. Just under 70 buckets hauled out and a few bags filled as well. The end is looking interesting - to the right is an alcove, which is full of mud and being cleared. To the left boulder stacked in mud. Down to the puddle, we are not digging fully down at the moment as we don't want the water to end up at the end. Hopefully the weather will hold and allow us to keep on digging.

6/1/19 - showing Tav and Nick the dig for Complete Caves book

Estelle Sandford, Robin Taviner, Nick Hawkes

2hrs

Tav visiting towards his work on Complete Caves and both wanted to take a look around in daylight. Showed them around all the smaller 7 holes before getting kitted and heading down the bigger 8th to show them the current dig and the higher series. Tav seemed quite impressed by what we had dug out and his comment was that 'he had been in a lot of sh*tholes in the past and this was definitely not a sh*thole'! Nick had quite a good look at the geology and all seems quite interesting. Noted that the end puddle had not increased at all since last week's digging so unlikely to need pumping before we dig on Tuesday, also hole in the floor hadn't drained. James Begley joined us as we were exiting the cave and we went and saw Kevin and the inside bones and geology before a coffee and chat.

Happy new year dig! 1/1/19

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay

3.5hrs

Afternoon/early evening session. Used the pump again to get the end water levels to a point where we could dig the end, although the slurry in front of it is rather horrible and muddy… The metal ramp that Mike put in it has helped though so we don’t have to wallow in slurry. While the pump was doing it’s magic, we cleared the bang remains from the hole in the floor, removing a lot of rock scattered around and James dug out the hole to a point where it was sort of draining the little pool in the bottom. We had brought over some bits of wood/metalwork to aim to cover the hole so we can drag the skip over the top, but that was a bit of a fail as it was a lot wider than we had estimated, so hoping mike can get another piece of metalwork like what is in the mud at the end. Once cleared, we then went to digging the end, with Mike having first shift, Estelle second and Jon third. The end is definitely changing, it’s a lot wider and some really big boulders on the left, but another aven/roof hole looks like it is on the right above us. Passage now about 6ft wide by about 3ft high, although suspect if we dug out the slurry, it would be deeper… James got some mud in his eye and had to give up to try and clean it out, so we emptied all the buckets and all adjourned to the Waldegrave.

12/12/18

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Dave Walker, Jonathan Riley, Mike Moxon

2hrs

Kevin had got us a pump, so we set to the job of getting it set up, firstly rolling out a rather bendy and lively length of pipe from the dig to the surface, then feeding the electricity and pump to the water. Pumping then commenced and after about 20mins it was looking quite good and we could have done some digging. Looks like we now have a way of draining! In other news, the bang was so good it filled the hole with gravel, we’ve not touched clearing this year, also the steps look good from last week’s cementing efforts, we need to add more. J

4/12/18

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay

2hrs

continued work on cementing the steps (and dug out the next one up) while Stu prepared another bang on the hole in the passage. Kevin is sorting us a pump to use which should be available by the weekend, so hopefully we can then drain the end, but we will need to put something over the hole we've created then! Bang went off well, hopefully plenty of rock to clear on next visit.

27/11/18

Estelle Sandford, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker

2.5hrs

cleared the bang out of the hole and passageway and broke up some rocks and removed all from the cave apart from the larger rocks which can be used for wall building. The hole is quite impressive - about a metre deep and width of the passage and about 1/2m wide in the middle. Really awkward digging as have to reach to toes, can't bend properly!

20/11/18

Estelle Sandford, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay, Jonathan Riley

2.5hrs

Looked at the end, it’s still about welly deep in water. Plan from last week was to drill and bang the hole in the floor half way down, either to give us a way on or at least to perhaps give us a drain hole as it does drain slowly when we fill it with buckets of water. Stu was left drilling holes while Estelle, Dave and Jon dug out the steps a bit more and carried on cementing in stone to hopefully prevent subsidence if the dig floods again this winter. Used up pretty much all of the cement and also need more dust now and exited. Satisfactory dull thud from the bang which we set off on exit.

13/11/18

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Phil Hendy

2.5hrs

End still lovely and wet, puddle about welly height. Phil came along to have  a look – first time he’s seen it since he introduced us to Kevin and the dig way back in 2012! He helped with moving buckets around. Top where the bags are is getting really slippery and James fell off at one point. The end is changing but with the amount of water it’s hard to dig, but gone from high and narrow to wide and getting lower (we think, although hard to gauge the floor depth with the level of water…) At the start of the dig, we again poured some 4-5 buckets of water in the hole in the floor part way up and all drained, so we are going to blow this up and dig it out – either it may provide a way on or if not, it may provide somewhere we can drain water off too…

6/11/18

Estelle Sandford, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay

2hrs

Stu brought his drill so after we'd dug it out of the water a bit and tried to move it a bit, the big boulder in the puddle was capped and broken up. There is quite a large puddle at the end which is not draining now, in some places close to welly deep!

Estelle had changed wellies from last week to non holey ones, so went to the end to dig. Filled most of the available buckets and also pulled a lot of mud and rock from the wall. The end is mostly boulders held together by clay/mud now and pulled out a lot of rock, some of it was broken up, but many moved as they are to the steps. We have a lot of good rock now ready for building into the steps. The end is now widening a bit and seems to be lowering a bit, definitely changing again and a lot of rock... We did try putting water down the hole part way down the passage - 4 buckets and it was full - it did drain through the evening, but slowly.

Next week will depend on numbers and wetness of the end!

30/10/18

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker, Mike Moxon, Nick Hawkes

2hrs

After the bottom step was effectively completed last week, with Nick there too, we went to dig the mud from around the rock that had fallen previously and we'd brought down from the roof and then the end. about a foot or so deep of water at the end, so quite sloppy digging. Removed quite a lot of buckets doing it in stages as to start with we were only 5 as Mike was late, but with 6, it's not really enough now, we do need 7 to go all the way from dig to surface. Need to work out what to do with the remainder of the steps...

23/10/18 from Mike Moxon

Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Jonathan Riley

Just the 3 of us. We lowered extra sand / dust down the entrance & took concrete makings to the top of the steps, to mix there. After checking the water level (bit higher than last week), Dave & Jon completed walling the bottom step, whilst Mike removed 17 part buckets of mud from the top of the boulder at the end, these were dumped on the pile between concreting. Tidied up before heading to the Hunters'. Will need some more rock & concrete for further steps.

16/10/18

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Jonathan Riley, Fran Campbell

2hrs

took some cement, dust and sand down and took stone back in from the spoil dump to build a small wall/bottom step to help build up and protect the loose looking boulder on the right. Did as much as we could in a couple of hours and then headed to the pub! Will need to continue the work next week and then decide on what to do next with the steps. Some water at the end and Mike brought down more roof mud.

9/10/18

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker, Fran Campbell.

2.5hrs

6 new buckets. As we were just 5 at the start, we decided it was time to tackle the steps issue as that meant we could bag fill as the spoil between the bags was catching up so need to raise the bags more around the ladder especially. Took it in turns to dig – 2 people can work on the steps, one bottom and one middle and the rest rotated around. Fran turned up around ½ hour late and helped even the numbers. Looked at the end, bit of a puddle. We may be able to use the big boulder as part of the steps possibly, it still needs breaking up though. By the end of the session, we’d cleared quite a bit of step back and decision is to cement in a retaining wall of rock at the bottom and work up from there. The wall on the left as you look up is currently undermined and the left side does look like it’s mainly mud with a few large rocks in it, so this needs retaining. Right wall seems to be solid rock at least. Get some cement, sand and dust for next week.

2/10/18

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker

2.5hrs

Dave had got a lot of bags from Cheddar Ales… so stashed them in top dig for now.

Hard draft with only 5! Filled 13 or 14 buckets each and then rotated around so we were emptying once all filled. One bucket demised part way so time to get some more. Bringing down lots of roof and there was a puddle in the end so a bit sloppy at times. The large boulder still needs to come out at some point, but still a fair bit of roof to go. With the buckets being quite wet, the steps were getting more eroded and we do need to do something about this soon, before the winter rains set in or we get a flood again…

25/9/18

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, David Walker, Mike Moxon, Jeff Broom (MCG)

2hrs

Since the end collapse last week where the boulder came out of the roof and also a large amount of spoil, we took a step back and focused on clearing everything from the roof about 5m from the end onwards. A large amount was brought down and cleared, 15 skips each and it’s getting to be really hard work with only 6, so need to do some recruitment or look to change our processes on how we dig a bit. Getting quite wet in the spoil area now and more bagging needed and we need to plan to raise the ladder soon. What looked like a boulder in the roof, is looking more like a flake of roof now and above where the big boulder had come out a few weeks back, looks to have been a bit of one of those aven type things going on as quite a lot of roof spoil there, but goes back to normal before and after. Next week or two still need to focus on the roof area. Dave agreed to collect more bags from Cheddar Ales, so thank you Cheddar Ales yet again.

19/9/18

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, David Walker, Jonathan Riley, Mike Moxon, Kriss Cawson (MCG), Mark Denning, Pete Hellier, Adrian Miles (BEC), Wayne (WCC)

2hrs

Moved to a Wednesday evening this week as there was an MCR meeting Tues and generally we wouldn’t have made it worthwhile, but Wednesday collected us a few new faces, which was useful to move a lot of spoil rapidly and bag quite a bit too. The 4 that hadn’t visited before headed into the upper series to have a look around it before heading into the digging section. Estelle was doing some filming for a Hidden earth video for the Mendip Roundup. Mark started digging first until he ran out of steam and then James took over and dug 10 skips, then Pete, Adrian and Wayne had a turn before Kriss went in as the last digger. During the evening there had been a bit of dig fever going on and tunnelling rather than bringing everything down from the roof and also clearing the floor out and a large boulder fell out of the roof while Kriss was digging, briefly trapping him, but he was uninjured thankfully. We brought down a load of the roof mud before exiting the dig and next session will be a major clearing session.

Video from tonight - https://youtu.be/j6HTny9XvEc

11/9/18

report from Mike Moxon
Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Duncan Simey
Whilst I embedded 3 pipes in the sack wall Duncan recalibrated the distoX, then we surveyed to the end from a point on the boulder. Meanwhile Stu drilled the fallen blocks & removed the aerial runway from the far wall. At the end I moved the tools a bit further back, so they aren't under the mud in roof. Several frogs had emerged in the rain, but we left them down the hole. First night of the darts season when we got to the Waldegrave ( but still managed to leave 5 mins before the chips)

4/9/18

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, David Walker, Stu Lindsay

2.5hrs

Bit lean on numbers tonight, but Stu went in first to dig as he hadn’t for a while – got to just before the end and the boulder we had thought was roof was suspended and of course Stu hadn’t seen the end for a while, so didn’t immediately twig that boulder had moved since last week! Estelle noticed though and stopped Stu before he got to it and then Stu used the bar and very easily made it drop to the floor, where he set to starting to break it up a little before climbing over it and continuing digging the end. The rest of us had a good go at breaking bits off it when we were the hauling person and reduced it considerably over the course of the night. It was very calcited inside and fractured easily into gravel! Stu did dig for much of the night as the rest of the working spots are quite hard work, so we did what we could on hauling and exiting the spoil. Plan for next week when we know reduced numbers is to survey if possible and look to reduce the boulder further, possibly chemically if needed and also to remove some bits of rock from the haul path that are making it flow less easily. Capping probably best or plug & feathers.